Love Letters
by chalaess
Summary: Ranger goes off on some sort of mission, leaving Stephanie all alone. Then stuff happens. Yes, I realize that I'm terrible at summaries, so sue me. Actually, I'd prefer that you didn't. Now complete.
1. Distraction and Cell Phones

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Janet Evanovich owns everything. The only one I own is Peter Atolo (he'll show up later. Aren't you in suspense?) and the skip in this chapter, and if anyone can get JE to agree, I'd gladly trade them for Ranger. Fantastic deal for her, really, a 2 for 1 special… ;)

I apologize in advance because the chapters will all very likely be short. So, sorry about that. Hope you enjoy it anyway. Please R&R.

Chapter 1

"Babe." As I got into his truck, Ranger looked me up and down, eyes almost black. If that 'babe' meant what I was pretty sure it meant, I had to agree. I looked hot. At the moment, I was wearing full distraction get-up: black FMPs, a short, low cut, clingy black dress. My hair had cooperated today, so it was in nice ringlets as opposed to 'I just got electrocuted' frizziness.

I didn't know what to say in response to that, so I just gave him a little smile and closed the door. He returned the smile, although his was a lot more of a 'I'd rather have sex with you than take my skip to the police station', as opposed to a 'Let's go, because I have no clue what to say' type smile.

As he drove to the bar, he was in his zone, so it was silent. He parked and got out the little microphone that he needed to put down my dress, giving me another smile. This was a 'My hand's going down your dress now to put on the microphone, but I can't promise that's all I'll do with it' smile. Five minutes, one rather intense kiss, and several moans later, I got out of the truck, all set to go kick some bad-guy butt. Or rather, to go seduce the bad-guy so he'd come out and _Ranger_ could kick his butt. But hey, it's the same thing, basically, right?

Once inside the bar, I located the skip right away. Will Tusen, wanted for assault and battery and indecent exposure. He'd run down the street naked after his dog got out of the house while he was changing. He caught the dog, and, while walking it home, someone made a not-so-nice comment about Mr. Floppy, whereupon he proceeded to beat up the commenter. I swear, I get all the weird ones.

I sat down next to him and gave him a tiny smile and ordered 'whatever he's having.' When the beer came (honestly, couldn't he be a bit more original?), he smiled at me.

"Hi, I'm Will."

It was generally a bad idea to admit that you knew this already, along with facts such as where he lived, what kind of dog he had, what his female neighbors' assessments of his body were, what his _male_ neighbors' assessments of his body were, etc. Not only did it sometimes come off as a bit stalkerish, it also had the unfortunate side-effect of revealing that I was a bounty hunter.

So, keeping this all in mind, I just returned the smile (I was doing a lot of smiling tonight) and said, "I'm Stephanie." Tiny pause, as though I was trying to figure out how to display my interest without sounding like a gold digger, then, "So, what do you do?"

"I'm a car salesman."

Or, you had been, until you got arrested and then, the next day, fired. "Really? That's interesting." I gave him another smile, this one teasing and flirtatious. "So, if I buy a car from you, can I get a discount?"

I'll admit, I wasn't using any good lines tonight. If I were him, I'd be about as interested in leaving with me as I was interested in sleeping with Albert Kloughn. And in case you're wondering how desperate I am to sleep with Albert Kloughn, I'll give you a hint: I'd rather shoot myself in the foot than sleep with him. Apparently, however, Will wasn't me, because he chuckled in a way that I think was intended to be sexy but sounded like he was sick. "Sure, why not? Speaking of cars, want to see mine?"

I was pretty sure that was an invitation to go home with him, but it was the weakest one I've ever heard. Luckily it hadn't taken very long to get him interested (maybe he was just desperate for female attention), and apparently my dress alone had done the trick, because, for some reason, I was less up for distraction tonight than normal.

Weak or not, though, I was going to seize the opportunity. I stood up and smiled. "Now?"

He nodded and, after paying for both of our drinks, we went outside. We had barely stepped outside when Will was pulled back and his hands were cuffed behind his back. I was distracted from Will's protests immediately by Ranger.

Ranger backed me up two steps so I was against the wall, and then put one hand on either side of my head and leaned in to kiss me. A little while later, he pulled back and smiled at me. We were broth breathing hard and his voice was ragged as he asked, "Want to see my car?"

I laughed and went along. "Now?" He nodded and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was serious. He was actually asking me to sleep with him. Well, no, I'm sure he wasn't planning on sleeping, at least not at first, but I knew what he wanted.

I returned the nod and we got into his car. As we drove over, I thought about what I was doing. Unfortunately, sex with Ranger always gets really complicated. For one thing, there's the whole Joe-guilt problem. Plus, I don't like doing one night stands. Burg girls don't _do_ one night stands. We're raised 'with better standards'. And all Ranger wanted was a one night stand, and _he_ didn't do relationships. On the other hand, though, it's hard to resist Ranger, and Joe and I were on a break. So, in a way, it was completely alright to sleep with Ranger. At this point, I noticed that we were in the RangeMan parking lot, which means Ranger must have been going about twice the speed limit. I'm pretty sure that if any cops had been anywhere nearby, Ranger would have gotten quite a few tickets for speeding. I wonder if he'd have paid them?

"Probably not, Babe." I barely had time to figure out that I'd asked the question out loud before he got out of the truck. I hopped out too, as I know he'd expected me to. I pushed my doubts away and walked over to him, giving him a smile and then walking towards the elevator with him. As soon as we got into the elevator, he pulled me up against him and kissed me. When the elevator stopped and the door opened, we were both breathing with a lot more difficulty. We quickly went into his appartment and then there wasn't any more talking. Or, at any rate, no more talking which required much intellectual input.

Several hours later, I woke up to a shrill ringing. I was snuggled against Ranger, my back to his front, and wanted to stay there and ignore whatever phone was ringing. Ranger, apparently, had different ideas, because he disentangled himself from me and reached out to get his cell phone.

"Yo." There was silence for a while, as Ranger listened, then he spoke again. "I'll be there as soon as possible." He turned off the phone and then rolled away from me.

I frowned and sat up. "What's happening?"

"I have to go. I may be gone for a few weeks." As he said this, he was getting dressed.

"What? Leaving? Where are you going?"

"I can't tell you that, Babe. If you need help with anything, call Tank. When you need a new car, call Tank."

I glared at him. "What do you mean 'when'? What makes you think I'll need a new car?"

The corners of his lips lifted. Definite amusement but not quite a smile. "Babe, you've had this car for four months and you haven't blown up anyone else's cars or garages or places of business or any such thing in all that time. Something is overdue to explode."

I was still trying to figure out what to say to defend myself (not much I _could_ say; I'd been thinking the same thing a few days ago) when he walked out the door.


	2. Clothes, and the Lack Thereof

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Janet Evanovich owns everything. The only one I own is Peter Atolo (he'll show up in a bit. be patient)and the skip in the first chapter, and if anyone can get JE to agree, I'd gladly trade them for Ranger. Fantastic deal for her, really, a 2 for 1 special… ;)

Oh yeah, and this is based after EOT, which I didn't say in the first chapter. I'm not planning on putting any spoilers in, but they might slip in. So, if I ruin the ending of the book for you, you can't blame me (sorta) because I'm warning you here.

Thanks to my reviewers :) I hadn't even remembered about the whole 'Morelli guilt' thing, and I suppose she should have been more conflicted about sleeping with Ranger, so sorry about that. tobydog, I didn't want to have any smut details and I guess I overcompensated by having very few details. Sorry about that. I'll try to work on it. I've now gone back and editted it. And I'm sorry that this chapter is so ridiculously short.

_I glared at him. "What do you mean 'when'? What makes you think I'll need a new car?"_

_The corners of his lips lifted. Definite amusement but not quite a smile. "Babe, you've had this car for four months and you haven't blown up anyone else's cars or garages or places of business or any such thing in all that time. Something is overdue to explode."_

_I was still trying to figure out what to say to defend myself (not much I could say; I'd been thinking the same thing a few days ago) when he walked out the door._

Chapter 2

I ran to the door, wanting more information, or to say goodbye, or to argue more about my car. To do _something_ and not end the conversation like that. By the time I had the door open, though, he was already gone. Figuring there was nothing I could do about it, but by no means happy about it,I went back to bed, furious. I lay in bed pondering the annoyances of life (the fact that something was definitely going to explode soon, the fact that Ranger never told me anything and had just left) for a while, and then I fell asleep.

I woke up around ten the next morning and decided that it would be a good time to get the few things that were still in Joe's house back to my house. I'd moved back to my apartment as soon as Valerie had moved out. Because I'd left right after a fight, I'd been too busy storming away in a huff to grab all my things. Thus, I still had some clothes at Joe's house. Since I had nothing better to do other than sulk about Ranger, I figured today would be a good day to get my clothes. Or, more specifically, right now would be a good time to get my clothes.

I pulled up in front of Joe's house and noticed absently another car parked there in addition to Joe's car. It was black and cool-looking. Sort of a Ranger-type car, except, of course, Ranger didn't hang out with Joe. I didn't really care about whose car it was, so I just walked up to the door and opened it. I'd gone a few steps towards the stairs when I heard a muffled moan. I stilled and my whole body tensed. I've been told several times that I have great instincts, and my instincts were currently informing me that something was wrong. Come to think of it, I'd felt the same way when I'd seen the extra car, but it hadn't mattered much. Now, as I walked towards the kitchen, I was getting a sinking suspicion of who that car belonged to.

My suspicion was confirmed when I saw Joe and Terri Gilman lying on the table. Or rather, Terri was lying on it, Joe was lying on Terri. Neither were wearing clothes, and both were, apparantly, enjoying themselves.

I must have made some noise, because Joe, whose eyes were closed, suddenly looked at me. Shock, then horror flitted across his face. Ironically, however, he just froze, and made no move to um…separate himself from Terri. Terri made a sound that indicated her frustration as his sudden stillness and then seemed to realize something was wrong. She opened her eyes, saw Joe's horrified expression, and followed his gaze. Seeing me, she gasped. Not a guilt-filled, remorseful, repentant, apologetic gasp (although maybe I'm making that up; I can't remember ever hearing that kind of gasp. Probably just wishful thinking.), more of a 'oh crap, we got caught' gasp. In the next instant, she seemed to realize that she and Joe were still…together, and she shoved him off her (and off the table), causing him to topple to the ground and hit it with a very satisfying 'thunk', followed instantly by a quiet groan.

The sound snapped me out of my shock, and I turned around and hurried to his bedroom, where I quickly gathered my clothes and then carried them out to my car. I was trying to figure out what to do about Joe when he ran out of his house (wearing jeans now. Too bad, sort of. I'd have liked him to get arrested for indecent exposure).

"Cupcake, wait! I can explain! It's not what it looks like!"

"So, what you're telling me is, you and Terri Gilman, _weren't_ having sex on the dining room table?" I was almost tempted to try to raise one eyebrow, but I was pretty sure I'd fail, and I didn't want to ruin my image. Or, what I was hoping was my image: justifiably angry girlfriend who is serious and refuses to let scumbag boyfriend weasel his way into getting forgiven.

"Well…I guess so. Yes, yes we were." The whole thing was said reluctantly and slowly. Obviously, he didn't want to admit it. Maybe I was being more successful at cultivating the desired image than I'd thought. He tried to think of something to say and, apparently couldn't think of anything good. "We're on a break!"

Clearly, he thought this made it ok. Technically, we _were_ broken up. We'd had a fight about me leaving his house and then about my job with RangeMan, and once I agreed to quit and go back to my other job, about me being a bounty hunter. The usual. And, to be fair, I'd slept with Ranger just last night and also once before, but both times we were on a break. Of course, I was now being completely hypocritical; it was ok for me to sleep with someone else on a break, but not him? "This isn't the first time though, is it? I bet you've been sleeping with her before. Even while we were together!" Not to mention, even when we were broken up, it wasn't all that real. People had made remarks to that effect before and it had made me mad, but it was true. We weren't _really_ broken up, we were just angry for the moment. Or rather, we hadn't been really broken up until today. I planned to remedy that.

Judging by Joe's guilty expression, I was right about him and Terri being together even while Joe and _I_ were together. "Goodbye Joe." Suddenly furious, not only with him, but with all men in general, I pulled back my fist and punched him, as hard as I could, in the nose. I was rewarded with a bellow of pain and the sight of blood pouring from his nose, and then I turned to my car, got in, and drove away.

By the time I got home, I'd bought a tub of Ben and Jerry's and I now carried it, along with my clothes that I'd brought from Morelli's house, into my apartment. I was crying by now, though not sobbing. Really, Joe could have at least used a bed. The fact that it was the dining room table was just adding insult to injury. I suppose I should be grateful it was Terri, and not Joyce. As I got a spoon, sat down on the couch, and started eating my ice cream, though, I wasn't feeling like being grateful for small favors. Men suck.


	3. Roses and Wet Shirts

Disclaimer: Janet Evanovich owns everyone, except Will Tusen and Peter Atolo (who'll show up in a bit) and I'm not all that excited about owning them, either.

Thanks everyone who reviewed. I love getting reviews :) I'm going to try to update once a day, unless, of course, I can't...then I won't update once a day. (Wow...let's see if I can be any more obvious)

Oh! And also, if anyone can tell me what AU means, I may very well love you forever. Or at least, for a while. Cause I've seen it a lot and, in my unknowledgeableness (wow...that's a long word. I'm pretty sure it's fake, too) I haven't a clue what it means. So...yeah. Tell me, por favor:)

Chapter 3

I woke up and felt rather sick. I groaned. I suppose eating an entire tub of ice cream last night hadn't been the best idea. I went into the bathroom and threw up, then went back into by bedroom. That's when I noticed the note.

On my pillow, right next to a beautiful red rose, was a note. I walked to it and picked it up. It said "Good morning, gorgeous." That was it. No signature. The note was on the back of a picture, so I flipped it over and examined the picture. It was taken two days ago, on the distraction job. I was about to go into the bar, and I'd looked back over my shoulder at Ranger.

I guessed there were three possibilities. It could be Morelli. However, I didn't think he'd do this right after I broke his nose (ok, so I didn't know for sure that I'd broken his nose, but hey, a girl can hope, right?). Also, it seemed unlikely that he'd follow me on a distraction and watch and not say anything about it. Especially if he waited and saw me kiss Ranger. Option 2: Ranger. The problem with this it that, he was who-knows-where, and I definitely couldn't imagine him giving Tank the order to write me this note and leave it, along with a rose, on my pillow. I had to smile as I imagined the scene. It was sort of amusing. The smile left, however, as I considered Option 3: a psycho stalker. Not that psycho stalkers were a new thing for me. Really, I might even be immune to them by now. Here I am, considering the fact that a stalker just broke into my house and left me this little note, but I'm not all that worried. Neither the note nor the rose seem dangerous to my health.

So, having decided that they were from a stalker who was, as of yet, not a threat, I put the rose in the trash and kept the note, in case it was a psycho and I needed to show it to someone later. I put the note in my kitchen drawer and then pushed it out of my mind.

I got dressed, gave Rex a grape, and then went out to my car. I pulled out of the lot and got some doughnuts, then went to the office. Lula and Connie both looked up as I came in and set the doughnuts on Connie's desk. I took a doughnut for myself and, looking at their smiles, marveled at the fact that they somehow managed to look sympathetic, proud, and satisfied all at once.

"I hear you broke Supercop's nose." Lula's voice was like her expression, except without the sympathy and with more happiness. I take it she approved of my reaction to discovering Morelli and Terri.

I smiled, but it felt forced. "I'm glad. I hoped I'd broken it, but I hadn't been sure." I decided not to pretend I was happy. After all, I wasn't. "The scumbag was doing it on the dining room table. It's always the dining room table! At least it wasn't Joyce this time. If it had been, I swear, I'd have gone home and gotten my gun. In fact, I'm thinking shooting Joe isn't too bad of an idea." Truthfully, I'd worn my gun today solely for that purpose. I was pretty sure it wasn't loaded, but I could still point it at him if I saw him. Not that he'd be fooled, probably. I could just throw the gun at him if he got close enough, but that seemed childish. And quite possibly, he'd dodge it. Maybe I'd just run him over if I saw him. I'm rather surprised I didn't do it last night. Apparently, I said all this out loud, because Lula nodded and Connie told me that if I didn't run him over, she could have him killed.

Now that I'd vented about how much men sucked, I was a lot happier, so I cheerfully thanked Connie and then got my folders from her and went out to my car. I was happier, but not happy, of course. So, if I saw Morelli, I would still probably shoot him, despite my improved mood. Just in case, I checked my gun and was disappointed to see that it was unloaded. Way to ruin my mood.

My first two apprehensions went smoothly (one of them was Mooner, so that one is easily explained), but my third skip obviously wasn't in the mood to go to the police station.

I announced who I was and he slammed the door and ran out the back. Because he'd left it unlocked, I re-opened the door, ran through his house, and took off after him. He'd gotten a good lead on me, and he was fast, so I couldn't get close enough to tackle him. His back yard had a fish pond in it and 'ornamental' bushes and rocks around it. As he was trying to swerve to avoid the pond, he stumbled on a small rock. Not enough to fall, but enough that I caught up and tackled him. And of course, because it's me and this sort of thing always happens, we landed in the pond. The water was freezing and…very wet. I was surprised, but I still managed to whip out my cuffs and cuff his hands behind his back. Then I climbed out of the pond, pulled him out, and looked down at myself.

Excellent. My shirt, which, conveniently, was white, was drenched, plastered to my body, and pretty much see through. I grabbed as much of my shirt as I could without pulling it off, and smashed it in my fists, wringing it out. Then I wrung out my hair as best as possible, pulled my skip to his feet, and trudged wetly, my shoes making little 'squoosh' sounds with each step, towards my car.

I pushed the skip into the back seat, got into the front, and pulled a sweatshirt from under the seat, pulling it on over my wet shirt. Then, I drove to the police station, got my skip back out of the car, and went inside.

I was hoping that I wouldn't see Morelli, because if I did, I couldn't very well run over him if my car was outside and I was inside. I waited as the desk clerk wrote my body receipt, then hurried outside. I spotted Morelli's truck and concluded that most of the cops must be out to lunch, because only one car was parked next to his truck. I considered trying to do some damage to his truck, but I was pretty sure that vandalizing private property while standing in the police station parking lot wasn't the best plan of action.

I decided to ignore Morelli's truck, and I turned towards my car. I opened the door and almost sat down, but then I noticed a note taped to my steering wheel. "Step back" is all it said, and, on my dashboard, there was another red rose. It took me about a second to figure out why I was being told to step back. I'd never seen one before (although I'd seen the effects many times) but even I could recognize a bomb when I saw it. Instead of stepping back, though, I quickly grabbed it, turned and threw it in a random direction, as far from my car as possible.

Or rather, at the moment, I'd thought it was a random direction. But, as I saw the bomb land in the bed of Morelli's truck, I'm not going to say I wasn't slightly satisfied. I had barely had time to register all this (the bomb, me throwing it, it landing in Morelli's truck) before it exploded, sending Morelli's truck and the unfortunate car parked next to it to Car Heaven.

As the shockwave hit me, I stumbled back and hit my car, but didn't fall. I stood there, staring at the flaming, smoking remains of the two cars, with a feeling of mixed happiness and worry. Happiness because I'd just bombed Morelli's car and couldn't (I was pretty sure) get in trouble for it. Worry because, not only was there the chance that I _might_ get in trouble for it, but also, someone had just tried to blow up my car.

As can be expected, at the sound of the explosion, cops poured out of the station. The look on Morelli's face, combined with the fact that a large portion of his face was covered with a bruise I knew I'd given him, made me laugh. First it was just a chuckle, and then, as the situation sunk in (the situation being this: he was always lecturing me because my cars exploded, but the last two cars that had exploded in my presence had been his), I started cracking up. I had to lean against my car for support, and I registered dimly that all the police were now staring at me, not at the two ex-cars.

Morelli's expression changed from shock and dismay to fury. He stalked towards me and pointed a finger in my face. "You blew up my truck!"

I tried to pull myself together, but I was still laughing so hard I was crying. I'd been trying to think of some way to damage his car without getting in trouble, and now I'd not only damaged it, I'd blown it up. Finally, I managed calm down, though I was still grinning. I wiped the tears off my face and smiled sweetly at him. "It wasn't my fault."

He looked like he was considering homicide, but I didn't give him a chance to respond, I just got in my car and pulled out, leaving the lot.

My good mood lasted until I got home and decided to take a shower. I went into the bathroom, undressed, and then opened the shower curtain. Tied to the showerhead, and hanging down to eye level, were two things. A red rose, like the other two, and a note. This time, the note was on the back of a picture. The picture was right after I'd gotten out of the pond this afternoon. My shirt was see-through and clinging, my hair was curling wetly around my face, and my expression was one of disgust.

I'm not sure what freaked me out more. The picture, which suggested quite strongly that I had a devoted stalker, or the note, which proved it. "Take a nice, relaxing shower. You've had a hard day. Interesting use of my present in the parking lot."

I stared at the word 'present'. If whoever this was considered a bomb a good present, they definitely weren't getting an invitation to my next birthday present. Of course, I was sort of glad I'd gotten the bomb, because it had turned out well, but I didn't want any more. Also, it had only been about ten minutes between me blowing up Joe's car and finding this note. That meant that my stalker must have either watched me in the parking lot, then sped through town and written this note and put it up, or there were multiple stalkers working together. Either prospect wasn't that great.

I grabbed a towel, wrapped it around myself, then went to my bedroom window and threw out the rose. I saved the note in case I needed to show them to someone later on. I went back into the bathroom, closed the door, and looked around. I saw no evidence of secret cameras (although, I guess that's the point), so I took a fast shower then went to bed. I'd deal with my stalker in the morning.


	4. Statements and Blood

Disclaimer: Janet Evanovich owns everyone, except Will Tusen and Peter Atolo (who'll show up in a bit) and I'm not all that excited about owning them, either.

Thanks again to my reviewers. I love reviews :) Please give me more. And you guys still haven't told me what AU means. So hop to it. ;) I shan't post chapter 5 until someone tells me! Maybe...or until I get tired of waiting. (But that's not saying I'll post 5 as soon as I find out what AU means. I don't really want to post three chapters in one day.)

Chapter 4

The next morning, when I woke up, I cracked my eyes open. Nothing appeared to be wrong. I turned my head so it was looking the other way and groaned. Red filled my vision. I lifted myself onto my elbows and looked down at my pillow. A red rose and a note. The note said "Good morning, gorgeous. You won't find me until I want to be found." Once again, the note was on the back of a picture. This picture was obviously taken last night. It was after I'd thrown out the rose and note, while I was looking for the camera. My eyes were narrowed suspiciously. I had a towel wrapped around myself, with the free corner tucked between my breasts. In the picture, I was staring straight into the camera.

Although disturbed by the thought of a camera in my bathroom, I was glad that I'd gotten this picture. I picked it up and went into the bathroom, looking at the picture carefully. I could see my mirror in the very edge of the picture. I went and stood in the middle of the room where I'd stood the night before and tried to figure out where the camera would be to give the required angle to make this picture. I figured out that it would have to be right over the middle of my door. I walked over and stood on tiptoes, running my hand along the top of the door, where some people kept spare keys. I felt something very small, and I grabbed it and pulled. It stuck for a second and then ripped away from the wall. I looked at it. It was a very tiny camera, currently with a tiny piece of my wall attached to it. I went to my window and threw it out, careful to throw it so that it went over the fire escape and hit the ground below instead of getting caught by the fire escape. I put the photo with all the other ones, in one of my kitchen drawers.

I sat down at my kitchen table to think. On the one hand, I had proof now that someone was watching me inside my apartment and taking almost naked pictures of me. Also, the note today, about not being able to find whoever it was, was sort of scary. But, on the other hand, getting into my apartment without my permission was no big deal. Half of Trenton did it (obvious exaggeration, but whatever). And, the whole 'not being found until they want to be' comment thing was sorta freaky, but not a threat. I mean, that could be said about a lot of people, but that doesn't mean the person is going to hurt me. Ranger, for example, could say thatI wouldn't find him until he wanted to be found and my only reaction would be 'well, duh' or possibly a pathetic attempt to find him just to prove him wrong. But I wouldn't be scared.

Of course, thinking about Ranger made me mad and sad, so I decided not to think of him anymore, and turned my mind back to my stalker.

I had several options. I could ignore the stalker and hope I didn't end up dead. I could load my gun and carry it with me but otherwise ignore the stalker. Of course, both those options were pretty much the same, since carrying my gun was an empty gesture. The third option was to call Tank and let him handle everything. But, for one thing, I didn't want to get Ranger involved in any way, even indirectly, if it was nothing. Or, really, even if it wasn't. At the moment, I was annoyed with Ranger for always being so taciturn and never telling me anything, so I didn't want him involved in my life. I'm sure this would change as soon as he came back, because anytime he's close, I have a very strong urge to have him in my life, or at least in my bed.

I decided to go with option two for now, so I loaded my gun, had breakfast, gave Rex his, and then left. As I was getting into my car, my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID. Trenton Police Station.

Curious, but sort of able to guess what it was about, I answered. I was informed by a voice that I didn't recognize that I had to come in to give my statement about 'the incident in the parking lot yesterday afternoon.' I told them I'd be right in, then turned on the car and drove to the police station.

The person getting my statement was a cop I didn't know. Apparently, however, he had heard a lot about me, because when I explained that it had actually been a car bomb in _my_ car and that I'd just thrown it randomly away so _I_ wouldn't blow up, and that it was not, in fact, a malicious attempt to get back at my scumbag ex-boyfriend, he just raised his eyebrows and nodded, and wrote it all down as if he believed it. I'm pretty sure he did, which is sort of pathetic in a way. Definitely says something about the kind of things that happen around me. And the frequency of said things.

At any rate, no one stopped me and tried to arrest me for destruction of private property as I got up and left. I reached my car and, as I had half expected, saw a red rose as I looked in. I opened the door and picked up the picture, throwing the rose out behind me to the ground.

The picture was of me yesterday, looking at Morelli's truck. My eyes were super bright from tears (the ones I knew were produced by my laughter) and the flames from the explosion were reflecting clearly in them. I had a huge smile on my face. The note said 'I'm glad you're enjoying the game, gorgeous. I am too.'

I was pretty sure my stalker meant sending me semi-threatening notes accompanied by roses and, once, a bomb. Personally, I wasn't enjoying 'the game'. I was pretty sure calling Tank would be a good idea, but that going home and eating cake and thinking it over would be an even better idea. Unfortunately, I didn't actually _have_ cake. I picked up some TastyKakes on the way home.

The sight that greeted me as I opened the door to my apartment, though, destroyed my appetite, or at least pushed it out of mind for the moment. Vases of roses, not just red, but also white, pink, peach, yellow, and a bunch of others, were placed all over my living room and front hall. Rose petals were liberally scattered on the floor. And on one of the walls, written in blood (my stalker had a flare for the dramatic, apparently), whose, I had no clue and didn't want to know, were large letters spelling out: "Welcome Home, Gorgeous."

Definitely time to call Tank.

A/N: btw, when I wrote the whole 'Ranger being taciturn' thing, I'm sorry if I used taciturn incorrectly. It was a vocab word a few days ago and I wanted to use it ;) Sorry if I used it incorrectly.


	5. Smiles, Cars, and the Absence of both

Disclaimer: I own none of the good characters. Just Peter Atolo and Will Tusen.

Thank you muchly to those who told me what AU means. :) (Clearly, blackmail works excellently, because I got like seven people telling me what it means. ;))I was considering posting this last night, but then decided that three chapters in one day was too much. For some reason...not sure why... Anyway, thanks to all my reviewers and I hope everyone likes these chapter and the ones coming after it as well.

rinskigoddess-I hadn't really realized that I was cutting out a lot of stuff, except for the conversations. But thanks for pointing that out. I didn't have Connie or Lula say anything really (and this is, in fact, why a lot of the conversations aren't dialogue, they are just summaries) because I'm trying not to ruin their characters and I think that if I actually have them say stuff, I'll ruin them. So, I'll try to make the chapters less abrupt, but I'm sorry if, in the process, I mess up people's characters. (The whole abruptness thing is, in fact, one of my biggest problems with writing. I tend to summarize a lot of things.)

Mufassa-indeed. Learning words is very fun. But sometimes it's hard working them into sentences.

Chapter 5

He picked up on the second ring. "Yo." Apparently, being told to say 'Yo' first thing when picking up the phone was part of the Rangeman training.

"Hey Tank. I have a question, but first, you have to promise not to tell any of this to Ranger." I was willing to recognize when I needed help, but I still didn't want Ranger involved in this any more than necessary.

There was a long pause. "I can't promise that, Bombshell."

I sighed. "Alright. Never mind then. Sorry to bother you, have a nice day." I was partially serious, partially bluffing and hoping that he'd decide that finding out what was going on was worth promising to keep Ranger in the dark.

"Wait!" I'd never heard Tank, or any Rangeman employee for that matter, sound this close to panicked. My guess, though, was that he wasn't concerned at the thought of losing this chance for deep and meaningful conversation. "I promise not to tell Ranger anything more than I think he absolutely needs to know. What's this about?"

I figured that either I could accept that as the best I was going to get or I could hang up. If I hung up, though, he'd probably come to my apartment to investigate and then he'd see this, find out about the stalker, and tell Ranger. I decided to go with the first choice. "Can you come to my apartment, please?"

Another pause, this one shorter. "Be there in ten." Then he hung up.

As he'd told me he would be, Tank wasoutside my door in ten minutes. Conveniently, I was too, as I'd just closed the door and stayed outside, waiting for him. I had, bythen, eaten my Tastykakes, but they didn't really do anything to calm me down. The elevator opened and he looked at me and raised an eyebrow. He walked towards me.

"What's up?"

I got to my feet. "I have a stalker. Before now, it was freaky, but not nearly as bad as some things I've dealt with. But, I think that writing on my wall with some mystery person's blood moves the stalker into the 'threatening enough to pay attention to' category." I opened my apartment door and gestured him in.

Tank looked in and stilled. I don't just mean he stopped moving. It was like his whole being settled down and he was suddenly eerily calm. He drew his gun and walked through the apartment slowly and carefully, checking any possible hiding places. I considered making some teasing comment about him being scared of a few flowers, but I decided not to. Seeing as how _I_ was scared of a few flowers, it seemed like saying anything would just make me look pathetic.

After he'd done his little 'secure the premises' thing, he turned to me. "So, tell me about your stalker."

I went to my kitchen drawer and pulled out all the notes, handing them to him. Then I threw away the Tastykake wrappers and went to check on Rex while I talked. He appeared unharmed. Truthfully, I'd sort of been worried that the blood was his and that someone had killed my hamster. Seeing that he was fine was a huge relief. "I've gotten those over the past few days. All of them have been accompanied by a single red rose. The one that says 'Step Back', though, also came with a bomb on my driver's seat in my car. I threw the bomb when I saw it and it landed in Morelli's truck. Then Morelli's truck blew up."

The corners of his lips tipped upwards. Very Rangeresque. What was it with these men? Were they incapable of actually _smiling_!

Tank grinned. "Of course we can smile." Great, I'd said that out loud. Tank's smile disappeared as he returned his attention to the photos. He looked at the one of me in a towel in my bathroom and raised an eyebrow. "You realize that this means there's a secret camera in your bathroom?"

Wow, way to state the obvious. "Not anymore. I threw it out the window."

Tank gave me a strange look for a second and then just shrugged, to himself I think, as though he should have expected something like that from me. "Well, there might be more scattered throughout your apartment. I don't think it's safe for you here. Pack a bag, and I'll take you to Ranger's apartment. I'll have someone come in and clean all this up and check for cameras."

I was glad he'd asked so very nicely instead of just telling me what to do. Not.I gave him my best Burg glare, which he ignored completely, and then went to pack a bag. I was ready quickly and then we left. I made him carry Rex, but I don't think that job effected him any more than my glare. He didn't seem all that repentant. Maybe he didn't even notice that he'd been totally bossy.

"Or maybe he didn't care." I'm not sure which startled me more; the fact that Tank spoke suddenly when I wasn't expecting it (informing me, in the process, that I'd spoken out loud yet again), or the fact that the man not only thought, he had a sense of humor. Apparently, I said _this_ aloud too, because he chuckled. "Nice to know you see me as more than just a pretty face, Bombshell."

Luckily, we reached the black SUV he'd driven over here at that moment, so I didn't have to think of a reply. The ride over to Rangeman was silent, so I used the time to think. I was hoping that my stalker didn't, in Tank's opinion, fall under the category of things Ranger needed to know. I asked.

"I think, now that you're in Ranger's apartment, you should be fine. If something comes up that I think Ranger might harm me if I don't tell him, such as you get hurt or kidnapped, I'm obviously going to tell him. But, if it's something that'll just worry him and possibly blow his cover, I'm not going to mention it to him."

What he was saying sunk in and I turned to face him as he drove, narrowing my eyes. "You speak to him? Where is he? You say he's undercover? Is that why he couldn't tell me anything? Is it some top secret, 'secret agent man' thing?"

Tank looked over at me, but then returned his attention to the road. "If he didn't tell you any of this, why do you think _I'll_ tell you? Yes, I speak to him. The rest, I'm not going to answer."

I glared at him but he ignored it and parked. I hadn't realized we were already here. He got out and then got Rex and started towards the elevator. I got out and followed him and then waited while we rose to the seventh floor. Tank went in first, put Rex on the counter, and then handed me a keychain with the apartment key and the remote to get to the seventh floor.

It was as I looked at they key that I realized something. "Tank, I don't have my car."

He nodded. "I noticed."

"So…how am I supposed to go anywhere?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Like where? Surely you don't think you're going to get to leave the building until your stalker is caught?"

Without giving me a chance to respond, he turned and walked to the door. By the time I got to the door to yell at him, he was already gone. Well…this scene was vaguely familiar. Stupid evasive men… Men suck.


	6. The Stun Gun War

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone except Will Tusen and the rose sender.

So, in the last chapter, there wasn't really any Lula. In this one, there's some of her. I'll try to have an actual dialogue with her and not be abrupt and all that in this chapter. So, Lula shall speak (not that much though, sorry) in this chapter, and if she sucks, I'm sorry.

Jen, I'd actually completely forgotten about Morelli and Terri...hmm...I'm not sure I can work in any public embarrassment or some such thing, but if the oppurtinity arises, I'll seize it. And this is actually a rather Rangerless story, which is strange. He's coming back soon though, don't worry.

Chapter 6

I woke up the next morning and for a moment, was disoriented. Where was I? Then I took a deep breath and was momentarily distracted by the smell of Bulgari and Ranger. I felt an idiotic smile creeping onto my face and reminded myself that I was angry at Ranger. I got out of Ranger's bed, took a shower (not good for my anger. The smell of Bulgari was dissipating my annoyance with Ranger very quickly), and then got dressed. I heard someone knock at the door, so I went out of the bedroom and opened the door.

Tank stood there with a vase of roses. He held them out to me. "These just came for you. Are they from your stalker?"

I saw the note nestled among the crimson blooms and plucked it out, opening the envelope. Even before I read a single word, I quickly recognized the now very familiar writing. "Good morning, gorgeous. Did you actually think running to your boyfriend is going to make me unable to find you, or are you just trying to make the game more fun?"

I grimaced and handed the note to Tank. He read it quickly and then frowned. Before he could say anything, though, I spoke. "So, you weren't serious about the whole, I can't leave the building thing, right?"

Tank looked at me like it was a stupid question. "Of course I was serious."

I glared at him, then remembered that it was always worthless and decided it wasn't worth the effort, so I stopped. "So what if I just go out and hotwire Ranger's Porsche. What'll you do?"

Tank looked highly amused. "Assuming you even knew how to hotwire a car, I think you'd have a hard time with that, seeing as how the Porsche is currently in…" pause "…the same place as Ranger." I wasn't sure if he had actually almost messed up andtold me where Ranger was, or if he just felt like having me in suspense. He grinned. "I just felt like having you in suspense."

"But what about your SUV? What would you do if I hotwired _that_?"

Tank shook his head and then gave me an indulgent smile. "Bombshell, you don't know how to hotwire a car. I bet if you tried, the car would explode. Seeing as how Ranger would kill me if I let a car explode _with you in it_, I don't plan on letting you attempt to hotwire anything in the near future."

I was pretty sure this was the second time he'd made a reference to Ranger hurting him if anything happened to me. Maybe the third. I looked at him curiously. "You keep talking about Ranger as though he's threatened you with injury or death if I get hurt. Is that true? And if it is, why?"

He was silent for a moment and then said the one thing sure to get me off that topic. I don't know if he meant to distract me or not, but it worked. "I'm not going to talk to you about Ranger's motives. No one understands them. But, I do know that he'd want me to keep you in the building. So, until we catch the stalker, you are to stay in here. If you try to leave, someone will stun gun you."

"What!" It was half screech, half yell, and whatever that made it (a screll maybe? Or a yeech?), it made Tank wince. "Fantastic! That's just fan-friggin-tastic! Ranger's not even _here_ and he's controlling my life." I was still screlling…or yeeching. Whatever. "This is exactly why I didn't call you when I found the first few notes." I was now pacing as well, gesturing wildly with my hands when I felt the moment was appropriate. "I didn't want Ranger involved in my life. I told myself that calling you would be a bad idea because then he'd be involved, indirectly. But, nooo, I saw a little bit of blood and I freaked out. Big mistake. Maybe it was ketchup! Who knows? In fact, I bet it was ketchup. And my stalker won't expect me to go back to my apartment. So, that's what I should do. Tank, drive me back to my apartment right now! I'll be nice and safe there and you can just return your attention to the whole, running Rangeman in Ranger's absence, thing." I looked at him expectantly.

He looked sort of bored. I could be misinterpreting his expression, of course. However, there was no doubt that he wasn't fascinated or moved by my appeal. He was quiet for a moment longer and gave me a 'are you done, then?' look, then spoke. "Bombshell, you're staying here. I'm not driving you back, neither is anyone else. I don't know why you are so opposed to having Ranger in our life, but by asking for my help, you got my help. I'm not going to suddenly decide to put you back in your apartment and leave you to your own defenses. If you try to leave, I'll personally come down and stun gun you, unless of course, I'm not available. Then I'll have someone else do it. And don't even think of trying to do what you did to Hal during the Slayer incident. We've all been instructed not to hand you anything more dangerous than a stapler unless we are given permission by Ranger that is meant for that specific occasion. Now, I've got to go do 'the whole, running Rangeman in Ranger's absence, thing'." Then he left. Typical.

I glared at the door as he closed it. I decided to be good, though. For now, at least.

By noon the next day, I was going insane. Other than Tank calling in the morning to inform me that another dozen roses had come with a note that said. "Good morning, gorgeous. Ready for the next round?" They had taken it, however, and saw no point in delivering it to me.

At 12:07 (I'd been watching the clock for the past four and a half minutes, for lack of anything better to do), I decided that I needed to get out. I began planning my escape and by 12:13, I had my fantastic idea.

I called Lula. After I explained, there was a pause.

"You're trying to escape from the Batcave?"

"Well…no. Not the Batcave. The Rangeman offices."

"Alright, fine. I'll come get you. Give me five minutes."

About five minutes later, Lula called, informed me that she was outside, and then hung up. Judging by the tone of her voice, she was enjoying this little 'help me escape, thing.' I grabbed my stun gun and left the apartment.

Tank's POV (A/N: I just felt like writing this scene from his POV, so…yeah.)

I was watching the security cameras when I saw Stephanie get into the elevator and go down to the parking lot. I shook my head, sort of amused, and at the same time exasperated. Checking another screen, I saw that Lula was waiting outside the gate in her car. So, this wasn't an impulsive escape attempt. Well…not completely impulsive.

I got out of my seat, grabbed the stun gun that I'd kept close just for this scenario, and went to the stairs, jogging down quickly. I got down to the parking lot in time to see Stephanie getting out of the elevator. She saw me as I came into the parking lot and she started running. I ran after her and caught up. By now, we were outside the lot and out on the street. Not quite at Lula's car, but close. I got between Stephanie and her getaway vehicle.

"Bombshell, where do you think you're going?" I saw that she had her own stun gun in her hand. Interesting.

She stopped, looking at me, then at the car behind her. She seemed to realize what I already had; there was no way she could get around me and to Lula's car before I caught her. She raised the stun gun and stood, tense and ready to lunge at me. I, on the other hand, held myself relaxed. Of course, I was ready to react if she tried anything.

Just as I'd expected her to, she suddenly lunged at me, holding the stun gun out in front of her. I grabbed her wrist in my right hand and spun her into me so that her back was against my front. As I did it, I pushed my thumb against her wrist in a way that made it impossible for her to bend it towards me and stun me. I wrapped my left arm around her waist and at the same time pressed the stun gun to her hip. Her body jerked and then she went limp. She sagged, as I'd known she would, so I just tightened the arm around her waist (which was there for exactly this reason) fractionally, holding her up. I took her stun gun from her hand before it hit the ground and, after turning them off, put both stun guns in my pocket.

Aware that Lula had watched the whole thing and now was staring at me, mouth gaping, I flashed her a grin and gave her a casual, two-fingered salute with the hand not holding up Stephanie, then swung Stephanie into my arms and walked back into the building. I went up to the seventh floor (discovering that holding an unconscious woman and trying to push a button at the same time was rather difficult) and then put her on Ranger's bed. I put the stun gun on the counter as I left.

When I returned to the control room, everyone grinned and saluted me, half laughing at me, half laughing with me, I was pretty sure.

Back to Stephanie's POV

I woke up with a bit of a headache. It took me moment to remember what had happened, and then I was rather annoyed. I called Lula again.

"Damn, girl! That man is the shit!" She didn't even let me get out a greeting before she said this and then started describing the scene that she'd seen, as though I hadn't been there. When she was done, I spoke.

"So, can you come get me again? I'm going to try again and hopefully it'll work." Lula agreed and five minutes later I got another confirmation call. Grabbing my stun gun, I headed towards the door to try again.

I'd gotten almost to the gate that would let me out of the parking lot before Tank intercepted me. Once again, he got between me and my destination. It was really annoying to see how easily he caught up with me. I wasn't sure how I could change my tactic to succeed this time, but I wanted to get out of the building. Plus, I now wanted to get out just to prove that I could.

"Bombshell, go back to Ranger's apartment."

I just gave Tank a 'are you kidding me?' look and ignored him. I inched towards the exit, hoping maybe he'd go on the aggressive and I could attempt to use the same tactic he'd used on me.

"By the way, after I put you back this time, you better stay. If you try to leave a third time, I'll handcuff you to the bed."

His confidence in his ability to get me back to Ranger's apartment was really annoying. I was still trying to figure out how to stun Tank when the one solution I hadn't thought of occurred. Lula, obviously not wanting to wait anymore, came walking into the garage. Surprise must have registered on my face, because Tank looked behind him. It was only a momentary break in his concentration, but it was enough. I lunged forward and stuck the stun gun into his arm. Even as I lunged, he'd realized his mistake and turned, grabbing my wrist. However, as I stunned him, his grip loosened and then he slumped to the ground. I grinned at Lula and we hurried to her car. Even as we got in, I could hear running footsteps in the parking lot. The rest of the Merry Men were coming to help Tank, apparently. Lula started the car and peeled away from the curb. Tank's helpers were too late; I'd escaped.

A/N: I actually don't have the much knowledge about stunguns. I don't know the effects, so if Stephanie wouldn't have had the energy to try again after waking up, sorry. And, it seems like if Tank stunned Stephanie while holding her the electricity would travel into him and they'd both go down but...uh...whatev. So, sorry for the innacuracies. Please review:)


	7. Dinner and Phone Calls

Disclaimer: The only people I own are the lady who screams in this chapter, Will Tusen from the first chapter, and Peter Atolo (who you get to find out who he is, finally. Aren't you soooo excited? Admit it, you are. So excited in fact, that, if you're bothering to read this, I bet you're wishing, right now, that I'd just shut up and get on with the story. So I shall)

Chapter 7

"So, what's up with you and Batman?" Lula and I were walking through Macy's. I actually had no money, but I'd just wanted to get out of the Rangeman building.

At Lula's question, I shrugged. "Nothing. He's off saving the planet right now, and I have a stalker, so it was the logical solution that I stay in his luxury jail until he gets home."

"Back up. What's this about a stalker? You never said anything about some stalker." Lula looked at me accusingly. I explained. "Hunh." She didn't seem to know what else to say, so we walked along in silence for a moment.

After an uncomfortably long silence Lula spoke again. "So, what happens when Batman gets back? You gonna live with him?"

I shrugged. "I really don't know. It depends how soon we catch my stalker."

Lula grinned. "If I was you, I'd do whatever I could to keep your stalker free."

I didn't have to think of a response because, out of the corner of my eye, something moved and then Lula slumped, hitting the ground. A woman screamed (why, I wondered?), but I was quickly distracted from that by a quiet voice in my ear. "Finally, gorgeous, I got you all to myself." I spun around but someone pressed a stun gun into my stomach and as I blacked out, all I saw of my stalker was that it was a man.

I woke up later (I have no clue how long I'd been unconscious) and found myself handcuffed to a bed. For a brief second, I wondered if Tank had brought me back to Rangeman and handcuffed me to Ranger's bed as he'd threatened to do. Then I realized that, not only was this not Ranger's bed, or his apartment, but also, the man who'd stunned me had been my stalker, not Tank.

This last realization was confirmed as a door opened and a man I recognized vaguely stepped in. Peter Atolo. Wanted for rape, murder, and grand theft auto. I'd gotten him on a distraction. Now that I thought about it, he'd called me gorgeous on the distraction job too. I should have remembered that. Hopefully someone would, but I doubted it.

"Hello, gorgeous. Nice to see you're awake." From his tone, I wasn't going to enjoy my awake-ness as much as he was. "I'm sure you're wondering why you're here." I sort of was, but I could sort of guess. "Thanks to you, I had to spend some time in jail before I got rebonded. I almost didn't get rebonded, in fact. I figure turn about's fair play."

"So what was with the roses?"

He smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. A lot more scary than a nice smile. "You weren't direct with me; you did you're little seductress thing first. So, I figured I'd return the favor and court you before capturing you."

I looked at him skeptically and when I spoke, it was very sarcastically. "Wow, thanks. I appreciate the effort." I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic too, or if he was actually crazy and thought I'd like being 'courted'.

He grinned and, if it weren't for the knife I'd noticed in his hand, you might imagine we were just enjoying some playful banter. "I thought you might."

He walked towards me and I shrank back against the pillows. Probably Ranger would get here before anything bad happened, right? Except that he wasn't even in the same city. Damn him! If I got hurt, I was going to blame him. Maybe. Except that he _had_ tried to protect me, sort of indirectly, by giving orders to stun gun me whenever I was brought to his apartment for safety reasons. It _was_ my fault that I'd stun gunned Tank and ran off. But really, had I been expected to sit around?

My thoughts were cut off (literally) as I felt a sharp prick at my stomach. I winced and looked down at the site of the pain. Somehow I hadn't noticed before that I wasn't wearing a shirt and was, in fact, just sitting there in my bra. But now, as I watched him make a short, shallow cut near my belly button and the blood well up and drip slowly down my stomach, I was very aware that I was shirtless.

I looked up at my tormenter questioningly (and, truth be told, blurrily; my eyes were currently filled with tears). "Every time you stop paying attention to me, I'll hurt you. Since your Rambo boyfriend interrupted our night last time, we should cherish our time together now." Yep, he was definitely insane. He was halfway interested in 'our night together', and halfway interested in revenge. Not a good combo, from my point of view.

"Now, are you hungry, gorgeous?" I blinked at him in surprise.

"Uh…sorry, what?" I definitely wasn't following this line of conversation.

"Well, surely you don't think we'll have sex without a date first. That would be cheap, don't you think?" I just gaped at him. Yeah, definitely insane. "And I _do _intend to for us to have sex, gorgeous, make no mistake about that."

Luckily, I wasn't forced to reply, because he got up and left. He came back a short time later with a large tray. He set it on a table that I hadn't noticed before. Then, he set two places, set his large knife (which, I saw, had had my blood cleaned off of it) at what I guessed was his place, and then came towards me. I noticed that he had a gun in a hip holster. He unlocked the handcuffs from the bed and pulled me towards the table. There was a small metal loop on the table and he cuffed me to it, palm up. He sat down across from me and gestured to the food.

"Eat up. It's excellent, I assure you." Then, he picked up his fork and took a bite of chicken. I considered grabbing the knife with my free hand, but then I remembered the gun. Suddenly, as I watched, the knife was lifted up and brought towards my arm. I tried to pull away and then remembered the cuffs. I couldn't escape, and just watched, biting my lip to keep from crying out, as he made another small cut, this one on the underside of my arm. When he took the knife away, I looked at his face, aware that tears were running down my face. I refused to make any sound, however. He looked at me sternly. "Eat. Ignoring the food is as bad as ignoring me."

I nodded silently and took a bite of food. I didn't pay attention to what I was eating. I could feel blood running down the sides of my arm, but I tried to ignore it. We ate in silence for a while before he spoke.

"While we're in bed, I trust you to pay attention to me. If you somehow manage to ignore me, even there, however, I'll use this knife again. Since ignoring a man in bed is a lot worse than not eating, I might not just make these tiny little cuts like I've been doing. And I'll use the knife on whatever is available at the moment." He shot a pointed look at my breasts and I swallowed audibly. "Do you understand what I'm saying, gorgeous?" I nodded again. He frowned. "It isn't very enjoyable for me to be the only one speaking. Say something."

I had several choice things I'd like to say to him, but I was pretty sure now was not the time. "Um…" I didn't know what to say. What _could_ I say? "Nice weather we've been having lately."

He gave me a look. I'm not exactly sure what kind of look it was, but apparently my attempt at conversation wasn't good enough, because the knife flashed and I now had a little, bleeding equals sign on my arm instead of a minus. Tears came back to my eyes. Ranger better find me soon.

Tank's POV

I was a dead man. There was no way I could survive this if we didn't find Stephanie. Or rather, if we didn't find her unharmed. Lula had come to Rangeman a few minutes ago and informed me that Stephanie had been kidnapped.

My head was pounding from hitting the cement after Stephanie stunned me (not that I was letting the pain show), but it wasn't even close to the top of my worry list. I looked down at the cell phone in my hand, dreading the call I knew I needed to make. Finally, I just took a deep breath and speed dialed number one, feeling sick.

"Yo." Ranger didn't really scare me, but right now, just that single word made me want to throw up. Of course, I was really worried for Stephanie, too.

"Uh…hi, Ric. We…uh, sorta have a problem." I tried to pull myself together. All these uh's were just going to tip him off that something was really bad.

"A big problem? Can't you handle it?"

I took another deep breath. "It's Stephanie." Judging by the quick, almost inaudible intake of breath, which anyone else would have missed, he wasn't excited to hear that Stephanie was in trouble. No shit, Sherlock. "I'm just going to start at the beginning. A few days ago Stephanie called and needed my help. She has a stalker who was sending her roses and semi-threatening notes, as well as pictures of her throughout the day. I brought her to your apartment and told her that if she tried to leave someone would stun gun her. So, she of course, tried to leave earlier today, and I stunned her and put her back in your bed."

"Tank, why didn't you tell me any of this before?" Ranger interrupted me before I got to the worst part.

"Because she made me promise not to. I wouldn't have promised, but she wouldn't have told me otherwise. I knew that if it was a problem big enough that she would call me, it was worth finding out about, so I promised not to tell you unless it was something you absolutely needed to know."

"Ok…so, what happened to put this into the need to know category?" He was trying to keep his voice casual, but I could tell he was getting nervous.

"Well…so, you know how I said that I put her back in your bed? Well, she stayed there for about an hour or so, I'd say. Then, I was sitting in the control room. Actually, I'd been sitting there pretty much since her first attempt to get out, but I was there still. So, I saw her on the camera, because the whole building is monitored." He knew this of course. I was rambling, and I think we both realized it. I was trying to postpone the inevitable. "So, she got in the elevator, and then she pushed the button to go to the parking garage, because that's where she wanted to go. Well, actually, she wanted to go to Lula, who was parked outside the parking garage, waiting. So, she pushed the button and then the elevator started going down, because that's what it does when you tell it to go down." Ok…I was sounding pathetic. Time to pull myself together. "Anyway, so she got to the garage and started walking across the parking lot. Wait, let me back up. When I saw her leaving, I got up and grabbed the stun gun and—"

"The point, Tank." Ranger's voice was low and deadly.

I was dead.


	8. Anger and Kisses

Disclaimer: I own no one except Will and Peter. And Ben Stelia.

bowlingforshrimp: I'd sort of planned those scenes before figuring out all the details, so I wanted to keep them (once they were in my head), so I had Tank leave it on the counter as he was leaving. At least, I think he did. Maybe I forgot to write that, and only thought about it. If so, sorry. And I know he wouldn't actually leave it but...yeah.

Chapter 8

Ranger's POV

Tank was dead. Or, he would be if Stephanie wasn't ok.

As soon as he'd told me Stephanie was in trouble, I'd gotten into my car and started for Trenton at about twice the speed limit. When he'd informed me that she'd been kidnapped, I'd nearly become a highway statistic. Luckily, I recovered myself before the Porsche and the car next to me collided. I was just now parking at Rangeman (not very well, more like pulling into the general vicinity of a parking spot, putting the car into park, turning it off, and jumping out), and I still hadn't stopped yelling at Tank. The elevator opened as I ran towards it and Tank was there. I hung up the phone and he did the same, and then I started my monologue in person.

"How much of an idiot _are_ you, Tank! How many times have I said 'be aware of your surroundings'? Definitely enough that you guys tease me about it. So, how is it not drilled into your head yet? How could you let yourself get distracted? If Stephanie is hurt, you're a dead man!" Ok, so, basically, I'd just been repeating this, with some variation, for the past half hour, but I was panicking. I figure I have a right to be repetitive and yell at the person responsible.

Tank was silent, as he'd been the whole time I'd yelled at him earlier.

I took a deep breath and tried to think straight. The truth is when Stephanie is in trouble, thinking straight isn't always easy. "Ok, sorry. Let's focus. What have you guys done so far?"

Tank looked relieved that I'd stopped yelling at him. "We're checking Stephanie's skips for the past year, as well as getting a copy of the Macy's security tape. The problem is, we have no leads, so we don't know what to use as the basis for elimination. She's brought in a lot of skips, and we can't just go check all of them."

The elevator stopped and we got out. I led the way to the conference room, where everyone was waiting for me. "Alright. Check my skips too. Cross-reference both of our skip lists with all the nearby florists. Look for any large orders of roses in the past few days. And let me see the pictures she got."

Everyone got up. Tank handed me the photos and everyone else left to go do as I'd said. I looked them through. Stephanie on the distraction job. Stephanie all wet with a white t-shirt, also wet, on (I tried to be completely objective while looking at this picture and ignore my body's reaction). Stephanie wrapped in a towel. Stephanie smiling after blowing up Morelli's truck.

I looked at Tank. "We're looking for someone who could have taken a picture at the bar without noticing, so probably someone with access to a second story room across the street. Also, look for any skips with a body of water in their yard who she picked up in the last few days. Our target also has access to a room somewhere bordering that skip's property. The towel picture won't tell us much, except that it's someone who can get into her apartment. However, that doesn't narrow the list at all, in fact, it sort of broadens it. This last one probably won't help much, either, because anyone could have been in the crowd that I'm sure gathered when Stephanie blew up two more cars." I looked at the notes for a moment and then thought of something. "Oh, and go through all the distraction tapes we have from the last year. If anyone calls Stephanie gorgeous more than once, or uses it as a name, they are probably our most likely suspects."

I went to my computer and started looking, going through the security feeds from Macy's. All I could see was that it was a man, and I'd already guessed that. Any shots from the back were useless because he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt. The front ones were useless as well, because he was wearing the hood and sunglasses. I could see his lips moving, so I knew that he spoke to Stephanie just before he stun gunned her. However, I couldn't see what he said. I groaned in frustration. I hated this. This was worse than the Stiva incident. At least then, we'd had a pretty good idea of what we were looking for. For all I knew, she could be dead right now, and I didn't even know who it was. That thought was too painful to think about, so I wasn't all that angry when my phone rang, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I snarled. I'm rather surprised really. But hey, if there was ever a situation that was worth snarling into the phone for, this was it.

"Ric, where are you?"

Oh great. The feds. I'd been working on a case with them, but Stephanie was definitely more important. "Something came up." Then I hung up. I wasn't going to waste my time with them when who-knows-what was happening to Stephanie. I jumped out of my seat and went to talk to Tank.

"Anything yet?"

His head whipped around as I spoke and then he shook his head. Even as he did so, Lester came running in.

"Ok, we have two possibilities, based on the 'gorgeous' in the distraction tapes, thing. Of course, the guy might not even be your skip." I glared at him, tacitly telling him to shut up and get on with it. "Anyway, based on that, it's either Peter Atolo or Ben Stelia."

"Good. Do we have a possibility for where the wet t-shirt picture was taken from?"

Lester shook his head. Based on the way his eyes darkened, I was guessing he'd seen the picture and had basically the same reaction to it as I had. Even though she was fully dressed, it was practically porn.

I glared at him. "Lester! Focus! Go work on that."

I went back to my computer and started two searches at the same time. I looked for any buildings across the street from the bar where we'd worked distraction a few days ago that Atolo or Stelia could gain access to. Within five minutes, Atolo was now my prime suspect. His brother owned the building right across the street from the bar.

Bobby came in moments after I'd made this discovery. "Either this guy has a gigantic rose garden, or he's using false names."

"Is Peter Atolo on any of the lists?" At my question, Bobby quickly scanned the lists and then nodded. Gotcha!

A quick computer search and a ten minute drive later (this being a ten minute drive while driving as fast as possible without losing control of the vehicles, not a ten minute drive following the law), we were outside the most likely place for Atolo to have brought Stephanie.

We were all wearing bulletproof vests and had guns, flashlights, handcuffs, and walkie talkies. We covered all the entrances and exits and then, at my signal, entered any way possible, including windows (unless a room could be entered by either an outside door or a window. Then we took the door, because there was no point in getting cut up for no reason). A quick search of the house showed us two things. Firstly, no one was here, though, if the blood on one of the beds and a table in the same room was any indication, someone _had_ been here. The second was that in the room with blood, there was a secret passage. I quickly ran down the passage and came to a set of stairs, which I climbed. I emerged into an open space rather close to our cars.

I did a quick 360, checking the area, and my breath caught as I saw him. Peter Atolo was running away from me, trying to drag Stephanie, who was cuffed and trying to resist, towards his car, which was hidden by a copse of trees and thus, we hadn't noticed it.

I quickly informed my men that I'd found them, then I drew my gun and aimed. Atolo was too far away, however. I started running. Stephanie looked over her shoulder, spotted me, and renewed her efforts to break away. A knife flashed, Stephanie cried out, and I somehow managed to speed up as I saw the bastard cut her chest. Not deep, and not in a fatal spot (a small cut just below her collarbone, as far as I could see), but enough that, if I hadn't wanted to kill him before, I would now.

Atolo finally saw me but I was already on him. I tackled him, pulling him away from Stephanie and knocking him to the ground in the process. I took advantage of the surprise that froze him for a moment, and took the opportunity to flip him onto his back and plant my knee in the small of his back. I cuffed one wrist but he recovered as I was trying to get the other, and pulled it out of reach. I dug my knee into his back and he winced. I leaned forward ('accidentally' putting all my weight on my knee in his back during the process), and grabbed his arm. I pulled it back and cuffed it with the other hand.

Tank arrived just then, so I got off Atolo and went to Stephanie, quickly getting the cuffs off her with a lockpick.

As soon as she was free, I wrapped my arms around her (careful to avoid both the cut I'd just seen get made and the other cuts I'd noticed while uncuffing her), and pulled her tight against my body. She was stiff for a millisecond and then melted against me, her arms going around my waist and holding on just as tight. I buried my face in her hair, almost, but not quite, crying. I'd come so close to losing her. Not that I'd ever do it, but I was beginning to see all the pros of trying to domesticate her, like Morelli had done. Thinking about him made me tighten my arms around Stephanie more (if that was possible) which, unfortunately, also apparently crushed her completely, because she winced and let out a tiny whimper of pain. Immediately I loosened up.

"Sorry, Babe."

As though by speaking, I'd ruined the moment, she suddenly stiffened, pulled back, glared at me and then, to my complete surprise, punched me in the face. Judging by the quick intakes of breath from all my men (who were now standing around watching me) it was a surprise to them too.

"Yeah, you should be sorry! You always leave! And you never tell me where you're going! And, because you were gone, I got kidnapped by a stalker. Every time I stopped paying attention to him, he cut me. And, of course, I did that a lot, so I got hurt a lot. And then he was going to rape me, and he'd just cuffed me to the bed when you guys came in. So then, he freaked out and made me put on one of his shirts and then dragged me out some passageway. And that whole, sending me back to Morelli thing! You're a complete idiot, Ranger! If you weren't none of this would have happened."

Her mind was jumping around between various transgressions I'd done, aparrantly, because I didn't see how the Morelli thing was related to her stalker. Nor did I see how her getting kidnapped was my fault. I did, however, know that I was getting mad. I can't remember a single time I've ever actually been mad at her, but it was definitely happening now. I think some of the anger was actually her fault, and a lot of it was just anger at Morelli and Atolo that I was using on her. Not fair at all, but, since she had just scared me half to death with a stupid action, I figured I didn't have to be fair. "Babe, none of this is my fault! Yes, I brought him into your life by having you do distraction, but then I offered Tank's help if anything happened. But noooo! For some stupid reason, you felt the need to ignore your stalker. And then, when you finally do admit you need some help, you stick around for a day and a half and then decide you should just leave. And even after Tank stun guns you once, you don't take the hint and think 'hmm, maybe there's a good reason for me being told to stay here.' No, you just try again. Why do you think I have you stun gunned when you try to leave? Some sadistic pleasure in knowing you got electrocuted because I ordered someone to do it? If I was a sadist, I'd have done tons of things differently. Some masculine chauvinistic thing that I like knowing I can make you do what I want? If I just liked being stronger than you, all I'd have to do is this."

I grabbed her and pulled her against me, kissing her hard. I'm not really sure what the point of the kiss was to begin with. Sort of half-claiming, half-'I'm so glad you're alive, but it's hard to believe'. It ended up as a sort of half-desperate, half-'I love you so much, and you totally scared the crap out of me' sort of kiss.

When I finally pulled back, instead of pulling away from me, she wrapped her arms around my waist again and rested her head against my chest. "I love you, too."

Holy crap, where had that come from? I stared at her in amazement. "Wh-what?" Wow…I just stumbled over a word. I haven't done that since third grade. All the anger had been let out from the combination of my rant and the kiss, so now I was left just totally shocked.

She lifted her head off my chest and looked up at me, a soft smile on her lips. "I said, I love you, too." Had I turned into Stephanie and said something out loud? What was going on? The smile got a bit bigger. "No, you didn't say anything, I just knew."

Man... Her ESP was better than mine right now. Then her words sunk in and I felt a huge smile spreading across my face before I could do anything about it. "I love you, Babe."

Seeing as how she'd already done her part, only in reverse order, I kissed her again. This one was a lot softer and nicer and more of an 'I love you' kiss than an 'I'm freaked out/I'm going to kill you if you ever put me through anything like this again' kiss, like the last had been.

"Awwww!" As I heard all my men sat it at once, I jerked up. I was surprised for a moment (that sound wasn't the type of sound you expected from this group), until I saw all their grins and realized they were teasing me. I noticed then that Atolo was still lying face-down on the ground. Clearly, everyone agreed with me in thinking he could just lie in the dirt for a while.

I figured now would be as good a time as any to apologize for being a complete idiot in the past. Of course, we had a huge audience, but whatever. "Babe, you're right. I am a complete idiot. I'm sorry for" aware of our audience, I tried to phrase it so no one else would have any idea what I was talking about "what I did after the debt. Actually, I'm sort of sorry I even ever started that thing. It was enjoyable, yes, but not very nice to you. And I'm sorry for not talking to you that much. I'll try to do it when I can, but I can't always tell you where I'm going."

Stephanie smiled. "It's alright. I forgive you. Don't do it again, though."

Any response I might have made was cut off by the sound of a bunch of cop cars pulling up, sirens blaring. Apparently, the police had been called, which sort of surprised me, especially since I hadn't told anyone to call them. Although, I hadn't told anyone _not_ to call them either. Of course, I guess that having them come pick him up would also let them see Stephanie and the house and all that, letting them build a solid case.

My eyes narrowed as I saw Morelli step out of a car. I couldn't remember, at the moment, if he'd have been called here or if he was just here to check on Stephanie. Whatever the case, I didn't really care. Turned towards the cops and slipped an arm around Stephanie's waist (she'd jumped away when my men had so kindly ruined the moment), and glared at Morelli. His step faltered (based on his gaze being fixed on Stephanie, I'd say he wasn't here on duty), and then he stopped. He flicked his eyes to me, then back to Stephanie.

Despite the fact that I was pretty sure I'd have a black eye from her tomorrow, I have to say, I was very proud of her as I saw Morelli's face. Stephanie glared at him for a moment, then her eyes widened and she looked up at me with a gasp.

"I punched you!" Apparently, this was news for her.

"I noticed." I said dryly.

She probably would have replied, but Morelli spoke up, ignoring the exchange between me and Stephanie.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about. If you got a normal job, things like this wouldn't happen." He looked at her arm, which was covered from mid-forearm down in blood. "And you wouldn't always have cars exploding—"

Stephanie interrupted. "Firstly, the last time a car exploded, I found it quite satisfying. Secondly, you have no reason to tell me this, seeing as how I dumped you. And thirdly, I already got my daily dose of 'angry male yelling at me' from Ranger."

Morelli looked surprised. I was guessing it was about me yelling at her. He just stood there, completely surprised, for a few seconds, then the other cops came in and took Atolo. I gestured to our cars and the men started that way. Morelli finally accepted that Stephanie and he were over (I had to restrain the urge to cheer at this) and turned, going back to his car, though he didn't look all that happy.

"Shall we?" Stephanie nodded, and, still with our arms around each other, we walked towards the cars.

On the ride over, Tank had been in the passenger seat of the SUV I was driving. Now that Stephanie was here, he was in the back seat. He didn't look all that happy about it, but accepted it. That could be partly because of my 'If you hadn't gotten distracted by Lula, Stephanie wouldn't have been kidnapped, so we wouldn't even be here, so you wouldn't be in the backseat, so don't whine about it' look. Of course, that's a lot to smash into one look, so I'm not sure he got the entire message. He did, at least, get the 'sit down and shut up' message.

As we drove, I glanced at Stephanie. "Where do you want to go? You're apartment or mine?"

She shrugged. "I don't care. Somewhere with a bed."

I glared at Tank in the rearview mirror, because he'd laughed when she said it and was now grinning in a way that said he had no doubt what we'd be doing. "She just got kidnapped, you idiot. She's tired."

She grinned. "Well, that too. I have various other injuries besides this arm that you have to tend to."

I gave her a wolf smile. "I'd be only too happy to oblige."

She looked like she was trying to decide if she should reply and, if so, what with, when Tank cleared his throat.

"Uh, guys. I'm still here. I may be in the backseat, but I'm still in the vehicle."

Stephanie smiled at me. "Think he could fit in someone else's trunk?"

I just grinned, knowing she was almost definitely kidding."Babe."

A/N: The end. I hope you guys liked it. Sorry for thesemi-sucky ending.I'm terrible at endings. And yes, I know Stephanie was very out of character, since she always backs down from teasing, especially of the sexual nature but…meh -shrug-. Please review. This _might_ have a sequel, but I have no ideas for one yet. So…yeah. I hope you liked this. Also, I know that it's ooc for Ranger to get mad at Stephanie and yell at her, but it always sort of annoys me that he doesn't really show his emotions and I can imagine him being very mad over this scenario...so yeah. I may have messed up everyone's characters in this chapter, and if so, I'm sorry.

rinskigoddess: I considered having Stephanie escape on her own, but I decided to have Ranger do the whole running to the rescue thing. So, I hope you liked it as I wrote it :)

I hope everyone liked it, btw. I'm not trying to exclude people...

Oh, and yet another thing. I know Stephanie would almost definitely never punch Ranger, and I'm not suddenly a Ranger hater or anything, but I'm always thinking that one of these days someone needs to punch him in the face, cause he's a complete and utter idiot many many times. Grr. So yeah... And this is probably my last little A/N.


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